Croc: Легенда о гоббос (Croc: Legenda o gobboс)

1997 video game

Croc: Legend of the Gobbos is a platform game developed by Argonaut Software, published by Fox Interactive and distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in North America and Electronic Arts internationally for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Taking place in the fictional setting of the Gobbo Valley, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos follows a young crocodile named Croc, who sets out to rescue a group of furry creatures known as Gobbos from the evil magician Baron Dante. The game initially started development shortly following a successful relationship between Argonaut and Nintendo, with the former creating a processing chip for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System called the Super FX that was used in games such as Star Fox to display 3D polygonal environments. It was first pitched to Nintendo as a prototype for a 3D platform game in which the player controlled Yoshi from Nintendo's Super Mario series, but was ultimately rejected by Nintendo, ending the relationship and prompting Argonaut to retool the game as an original property. The game's characters and mechanics were designed by Simon Keating in his first ever video game project. Justin Scharvona, Karin Griffin, and Martin Gwynn Jones composed the game's music, while Jonathan Aris provided the voice of Croc. Croc: Legend of the Gobbos on PlayStation received positive reviews from critics; praise was directed towards the game's visuals, music and sound, while criticism was directed towards the controls, camera, and lack of innovation. The PC version was more negatively received. It went on to become one of Argonaut's most successful releases, selling over 3 million copies for the PlayStation. A sequel to the game, titled Croc 2, was released in 1999, and an HD remaster is in development.

Croc: Legend of the Gobbos is a third person 3D platformer in which the player controls the main character, a green crocodile named Croc, through several courses taking place on various islands throughout Gobbo Valley. There are over seven realms. Levels are accessed through a world map, and consist of various different smaller sub sections taking place both above land and underground (as well as occasionally taking place underwater) that are filled with various enemies and obstacles that try to impede Croc. Rescuing every Gobbo before a boss level in each world unlocks a secret level that can be completed in order to collect a jigsaw puzzle piece. Initially suspicious of the young crocodile but ultimately won over by its innocence, King Rufus and the Gobbos decide to raise it as one of their own and teach it in the ways of the Gobbo. One day, Baron Dante and his band of villains known as the Dantinis invade Gobbo Valley and begin terrorizing the Gobbos, capturing them and locking them in steel cages. Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was developed by Argonaut Software, who were coming off of the heels of a successful relationship with Nintendo as a result of their development of the Super FX expansion chip used in Super Nintendo Entertainment System games such as Star Fox and Stunt Race FX. Early development of the game began in 1994, when Argonaut began experimenting with the concept of a platform game set in the third dimension. Under the tentative title "Yoshi Racing", the initial concept was a hybrid of several mechanics from the two video games Super Mario World and Super Mario Kart, with the player controlling the character Yoshi from Nintendo's Super Mario series. After having sketched out several different potential character designs, Keating ultimately came up with the final design of Croc as a result of Argonaut's request for him to design a character whose design looked marginally similar to that of Yoshi's. According to Keating, Croc was given a single fang protruding from his mouth in reference to his pet house cat at the time who shared the same characteristic. Scharvona had been composing music for several of Argonaut's games since 1988, and had worked in house at the studio since 1994. and was first shown off at the 1997 Electronic Entertainment Expo in June as one of four games presented by Fox. The game was released for the Sony PlayStation in North America on 29 September, and in Europe in October. It was also released for the Sega Saturn in North America and Europe in 1997. A Microsoft Windows port of the game was released in North America on 26 November 1997. The PlayStation version of the game was rereleased under Sony's Greatest Hits banner in late September 1998. The game was released in Japan on 18 December 1997 for the PlayStation and on 26 March 1998 for the Sega Saturn as Croc! Pau Pau Island, where it was published by Mitsui MediaQuest.

A commercial for Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was featured at the beginning of the VHS release of Casper: A Spirited Beginning as well as a VHS release of Power Rangers in Space. The commercial for the game was also featured in the June 1998 VHS release of Home Alone 3. In November 1997, a promotional sweepstakes contest was held by Electronic Gaming Monthly, in which contestants mailed in via postcard in order to win a copy of the game along with various different pieces of Croc themed apparel, including a suede/wool jacket, a leather backpack, a t shirt, and a baseball cap. An official strategy guide for the game, written by Anthony James, was published by Prima Games in 1997.

The PlayStation version of Croc: Legend of the Gobbos received generally positive reviews from critics. The PlayStation version of the game held an aggregated review score of 79.14% on the review website GameRankings at the time of the site's 2019 closure. Reviews for the Saturn version remarked that, while it is inferior to the PlayStation version, the differences between them are impressively minor. Most critics also found the camera to be a serious problem, making it difficult to judge jumps, especially in the later stages of the game. efn|

A lack of variety in the gameplay and environmental design was another widely cited problem. efn| Next Generation also had an overall subdued response, judging that "the game provides just enough pretty, painless entertainment to keep gamers pacified, but there's not enough challenge to certify Croc a niche next to the classics it so readily seeks to emulate. It's just enough to avoid having its name used against it." PC Gamer noted that 3D platformers are difficult to do right because the roaming camera adds complications to the precision jumping the genre demands, and assessed that "The resulting gameplay can be anywhere from occasionally irritating to disastrous, and unfortunately, Fox Interactive’s newest 3D platformer Croc falls somewhere in between." Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was considered a commercial success for Argonaut, with the PlayStation version of the game selling over a million copies in the U. S. and becoming a console bestseller in the UK for two months. By September 1998, the game had sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide; and by March 2000 it had sold over 2.4 million units. The game went on to become one of Argonaut Software's best selling titles, with the PlayStation version of the game selling over 3 million copies worldwide.

A sequel to Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was first teased on the back of the Sega Saturn version of the game's manual. Initially advertised for a Christmas 1998 release, Croc 2 was released in June 1999 for the Sony PlayStation, and later for Microsoft Windows and the Game Boy Color. A Sega Saturn release was also advertised but never released, and a Sega Dreamcast port of the game was ultimately cancelled. The game follows Croc as he once again ventures to defeat Baron Dante, who has captured an old inventor Gobbo, while simultaneously searching for his long lost parents. The game makes numerous gameplay changes from the first game, including the addition of a health counter, more mission based levels, and an open hub area for navigating levels. A 2D side scrolling port of the game for the Game Boy Color, simply titled Croc, was released in June 2000. Three mobile phone games based on the game, developed by Morpheme, were released through the mid 2000s, titled Croc Mobile: Jungle Rumble, Croc Mobile Pinball, and Croc Mobile: Volcanic Panic!. On 6 June 2023, Argonaut Software founder Jez San announced via Twitter/X that an HD Croc game was currently in early development. Due to the success of the original game and its successor, Fox Interactive considered creating an animated TV series based on the games, a plan which never came into fruition.